The present invention relates to a cooler, more particularly a cooler having a bottle from which liquid can be poured.
Conventional coolers have an openable rigidly shelled insulated container which is arranged to receive goods. These goods are kept cool or maintained cool by the addition of ice or frozen gel pack. Rigid coolers are efficient in maintaining a cool temperature for the goods but they can be cumbersome to carry around to areas, such as picnics and camping.
Portable and flexible bag coolers are relatively recent way of providing portability to coolers as well as maintaining the cool temperature. Some examples of these cooler bags are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,279 (Lin), U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,060 (Hollingsworth), U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,402 (Freese et al), U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,396 (Morris), U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,313 (Workman) and Design U.S. Pat. No. 328,550 (Mogil et al). These examples all have a similar arrangement in that they have a foldable lid arranged to enclose the bag. The bags, as mentioned in the examples listed above, do not disclose a separate container for storing liquid or a removable liner for cleaning and such.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,344 (Livingston et al) discloses a bag for receive a keg arranged to maintain a cool temperature of the keg and to provide a suitable carrying means of the keg.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,095 (Melb) provides a portable cooler bag having a removable rigid liner arranged to provide rigidity to the bag. This cooler although providing a portable bag can face the same problems as the common rigid containers mentioned above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,256 (Graham) provides a container which is arranged to hold a fluid container having a retractable drip tray. This example is not a portable unit and can be difficult to carry. This example is arranged to be a stationary dispenser for a liquid positioned in areas such as cafeterias and the like.
According to the present invention there is provided a cooler comprising:
a container having a container bottom wall and upstanding side walls standing upwardly from a periphery of the bottom wall and defining an open top;
a cover wall hingedly connected to one of the side walls and attachable to at least one other of the side walls so as to close the open top;
each of the side walls and the cover wall being formed of a flexible fabric material with a layer of insulating material thereon such that the side walls can be folded to allow collapse of the container from an expanded position for receiving articles to be maintained cooled to a collapsed storage condition;
a bottle for receiving liquid arranged such that contents of the bottle can be frozen or cooled to provide cooling to material in the container;
the bottle having two opposed side walls and a peripheral wall with one side wall shaped to substantially match the shape of the bottom wall such that the bottle is arranged to be located at the bottom of the container with the side wall lying against the bottom wall to provide stiffening for the bottom wall and the other side wall facing into the interior of the container;
the bottle having a bottle neck extending through the peripheral wall through which the liquid can be poured into and discharged from the bottle;
and a closure cap covering the bottle neck
the bottle neck and the closure cap being arranged so as to be accessible at one side wall of the container for discharge of the liquid.
Preferably the bottom wall includes an insulating layer so as to maintain the bottle separated from the exterior.
Preferably one side wall includes an opening shaped to match the bottle neck.
Preferably the bottle and the container are arranged such that the bottle is removable from the container for placement separately in a cooler for cooling contents of the bottle.
Conveniently the container is arranged such that the bottle can be removed through the open top.
Conveniently the container includes a water proof liner which extends over the side walls and over the bottle and which can be moved to allow the bottle to be removed through the open top.
Conveniently the water proof liner is attached to the container around the open top and can be separated therefrom at least at one side to allow the bottle to be removed.
Conveniently the container is arranged such that the bottle is removed through one side wall.
Conveniently the side wall includes an openable cover which can be opened to allow the bottle to be removed.
Preferably the container includes a water proof liner covering the side walls and over the bottle.
Preferably the closure cap includes a manually operable faucet allowing controlled dispensing of the liquid through the side wall while the bottle remains in the container.
Preferably the side walls of the bottle are parallel and co-extensive.